Residents Shocked at Bank Balances
Success Village Co-op Update
By Barbara Heimlich, Editor
Sources: Success Village Association; Brian Lockhart, Connecticut Post; New Haven Register
Despite collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in co-op fees every month, Success Village has less than $4,000 in the bank, according to court documents.
During a court hearing on Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Dale Radcliffe ordered Pierre-Yves Kolakowski, a lawyer for Bank of America, to put the name of the apartment complex’s receiver, Stratford lawyer Barry Knott, on the co-op’s two bank accounts so that Knott would have access to the co-op’s funds and bank records.
Kolakowski provided Knott with paperwork that showed the total deposits in the accounts: $243 in the escrow account and $3,400 in the operating account.
The 924 Success Village households each pay around $500 a month in co-op fees to cover the complex’s expenses, though the cooperative is around $3 million in debt. Knott is trying to address that problem by seeking efficiencies. He is also having the books audited.
“This amount of money in the accounts is mind-boggling to me,” Knott told the judge. Knott’s job is to deal with the privately owned Success Village’s infrastructure and financial woes after Radcliffe determined the cooperative’s elected board and property manager could not.
On the Mark Management has been retained by Knott to be property manager once again of SVA (Success Village Association). On the Mark Management, Property Management/Real Estate, LLC, is a Milford company formed in 2010. The company has a staff with combined Real Estate and Property Management experience of 30+ years, six Licensed Realtors and eight Community Associations Managers, who collectively manage 18 properties (approximately 1500 units), consisting of multi-family rentals, condominiums, co-ops and mixed-use residential/commercial properties.
The city and the town had sued the 924-unit co-op complex to have a receiver appointed because, according to testimony presented during the trial, the co-op owes $241,597 in back taxes to the town of Stratford and more than $2 million in delinquent taxes to Bridgeport.
Heat and Hot Water Status in the Complex
“Boilers 1, 4 and 5 can possibly be resurrected on a short term basis,” said Barry Knott. “Number one is going to be used for water, 4 and 5 are going to provide heat.”
With temperatures cooling, and state law requiring units be a minimum of 65 degrees, Knott is focused on returning heat to the World War 2-era complex. Residents have been without heat since the last of the complex’s five boilers was taken off-line in early May due to hazardous conditions. Temporary equipment has been keeping the hot water flowing this summer.
Knott, in an interview this week, said the contractors he has hired, including Monroe-based Edgerton Inc., have examined the existing boilers and believe the three he mentioned can be reactivated “over the next week or so… at least for a month or two.” That effort will require municipal and state permits and inspections.
“In the meantime we’ve ordered two new boilers from other parts of the United States,” Knott said. Once the two new boilers arrive they will take the place of the three old ones, he said. “They’re more than adequate to handle the job, but it’s not an ideal long-term solution,” Knott said. His goal is to have a boiler installed at each of the development’s 97 buildings.
Paying for these new boilers will be a big hurtle to overcome, especially with just $4000 in the bank. Bridgeport and Stratford successfully filed for receivership in court. Municipal officials feared a potential humanitarian crisis this winter should much of Success Village be without reliable heat. In exchange, the respective mayors, Joe Ganim and Laura Hoydick, and their legislative bodies offered a $650,000 loan.
Knott plans to use that to cover the near-term expenses. But the permanent, one-boiler-per-building plan will be much more expensive and likely require him to seek grant funding, he said.
“We’re looking at $15 million or $20 million,” Knott said. “Even if there is no grant money available — and I can’t believe that will be the case — worst-case scenario, we’re still having (two) new boilers that will be in there.”
Resident Responses from SVA Facebook page: The FB group does not have all 924 Unit Owners
Richard Matos I agree 1000%. It’s up to Attorney Knott to decide how to convey this message to the membership, but under no circumstances should payments be made to the office until we can be assured that the funds are safely deposited into SVA accounts that are securely supervised by Attorney Knott and his designated agents…
Rebecca Haas My 2 cents is that Attorney Barry Knott should write an official letter to be delivered to ALL 924 units. All money should NOT go through the SVA office hands.
Maria Pereira: According to City Councilwoman Maria Pereira: Don’t pay general fees (common costs) until Attorney Barry Knott takes full control of community accounts. There will not be a late fee. You don’t have to worry. Our monthly fees/payments are in the hands of none other than Barry Knott!
